Your Letters

Posted on Jan. 23, 2003 at 7:00 pm

A Conservative Challenge

In our studies at Beth Chayim Chadashim's (BCC) Queer Jewish
Think Tank, we are not throwing out the halacha, nor are we bending and
twisting the texts to suit our own devices ("A Conservative Challenge," Jan.
17).

BCC and Rabbi Lisa Edwards are at the forefront of this
exploration and are 100 percent committed to the full integration and acceptance
of gay Jews within Judaism.

To relegate a Reform synagogue to the sidelines in this
globally impacting discussion and to discount the essential importance of BCC,
a 30-year-old gay synagogue, by not consulting them for your "Out of the
Closet" issue, is shortsighted at the very least.

There is a danger in leaving the entire halachic, Talmudic
and Tanachic "playing-field" to those who dwell "inside the box." Other voices
must be listened to and those other voices do have a great deal to say.

Melanie Henderson, Los Angeles

Thank you for your excellent article covering the
controversy within the Conservative movement about the inclusion of gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. However, I wish to take strong
exception to the comments of Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, the chancellor of the Jewish
Theological Seminary, who said that ordaining gays and performing commitment
ceremonies for us would fracture the movement.

The movement is already fractured. I was raised in a
Conservative home, and my grandfather was one of the founders of the movement
in Chicago.

As a gay man I am a second-class citizen, my relationship of
20 years unrecognized, my learning unimportant. In many Conservative shuls, I
am not welcome in positions of leadership or for honors on the bimah.

Like so many other gay folk, I have joined the Reform
movement where I am much more welcome, although my practice and beliefs are
more in line with Conservative ideology. I guess I just don't count when it
comes to assessing what is happening in the Conservative movement.

It's already fractured, rabbi. Open your eyes and watch the
people leave that you have driven out.

Avram Chill, Silver Lake

Plant a Tree, Save a Car

Rob Eshman's logic on oil is a little slippery ("Plant a
Tree, Save a Car," Jan. 17). If it is in the Jewish interest to reduce
dependence on Arab oil, then why not support tapping into domestic sources of
energy as well as conservation?

Environmentalists, who seem to oppose all oil drilling
anywhere in America, share the blame with SUV owners for fattening the Saudi
bank accounts that find their way to terrorist groups.

Conservation and new technologies are important, but like it
or not the U.S. economy is going to need a lot of oil for many years to come.

The United States (and Jewish interests) cannot afford to
declare these energy sources off-limits due to the childish, fanatical mindset
of many environmentalists.

Frederick Singer, Huntington Beach

Send Troops

In reading Rob Eshman's article, "Send Troops" (Jan. 10), I
am greatly disappointed in his apparent lack of understanding of the realities
of the world situation. The worst idea that could be proposed is for the United
States to send troops to Israel to serve as a buffer. I shudder to think of
what the fallout would be from U.S. troops killing Israelis trying to break up
a firefight between Israel and the Palestinians, especially if it was perceived
as intentional. And if U.S. troops, acting as buffers, don't try to intercede,
why would Israel need a buffer force?

Emanuel R. Baker, Los Angeles

From L.A. to Tel Aviv

In David Margolis' story about The Federation's Tel Aviv-Los
Angeles Partnership ("From L.A. to Tel Aviv -- A Partnership That Works," Jan.
3) he did not distinguish between projects, which are conceived, developed and
executed by the Partnership's staff and lay committees, and those in which the
Partnership is a partial source of funding for implementing projects of
independent institutions with goals that complement and reinforce those of the
Partnership. The Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity is one such
independent institution.

One example of the center's recent work is "The Dybbuk"
project, a two-year-old, ongoing three-way collaborative effort among the Tel
Aviv University and UCLA theater departments and the Center, with each
institution providing the talents of its respective artists in the creation of
a pioneering world-class contemporary dramatic musical work based on a Jewish
classic.

Despite the article's unfortunate omission of the Center, we
look forward to continue sharing the Center's accumulated experience and
expertise in developing and strengthening Israeli-Diaspora relations through
Jewish culture in the communities of Tel Aviv and Los Angeles, and to involving
the Partnership in future Center initiatives directed toward shared goals.

John H. Rauch, President Center for Jewish Culture and
Creativity

David Margolis' otherwise comprehensive article missed one
of the more ambitious projects which is currently being explored by the Tel
Aviv-Los Angeles Partnership of The Jewish Federation. That is, the attempt to
create in Tel Aviv a legal services agency modeled after Bet Tzedek Legal
Services. Bet Tzedek is the only Jewish organization in the country that is
dedicated to providing free legal services to the poor, elderly and disabled
members of the community, covering a wide variety of legal areas. Further, it
is the only organization to provide free assistance to, and representation of,
Holocaust survivors in applying for reparations and other available programs.

Tel Aviv has a significant indigent population who have
virtually no access to the legal system and is very much in need of an
organization like Bet Tzedek. We hope this project will take root and come to
fruition during the coming year.

I would like to thank Rachel Brand for the thoughtful and
comprehensive article about the Second Generation ("Support Group Helps Second
Generation," Dec. 27). In addition, I would like to clarify a few minor points.
Many Second Generation individuals have achieved fully actualized lives,
successfully incorporating the lessons learned at home to become some of the
most productive members of our community.

The goals of our organization now are to provide a
supportive environment where those who share our legacy can exchange ideas and
feelings about their heritage. We promote Holocaust education and memorialization,
foster an understanding of the implications of the lessons of the Holocaust on
society and support both the State of Israel and the Los Angeles Museum of the
Holocaust.

Dr. Morry Waskberg, Vice President

I wanted to thank you for writing such a sensitive and
caring article about the noble organization Second Generation and survivors of
the Holocaust, especially now when so many people that I know and work with try
and say that the Holocaust never existed and that it's only a big lie created
by Jews.

Some day, people like the doctor you interviewed won't be around to
tell their story or their parents' story. And the people who say the Holocaust was
a lie and that Jews were never singled out and murdered will win the public
over with their lies.

Name Withheld by Request, Los Angeles

Lowering the Bar

Thank you Gary Wexler ("A Plea to Lower the Bar on Bar
Mitzvahs," Jan. 10) for openly saying what too many of us do not have the
courage to say when it comes to extravagant, vulgar, inappropriate, hedonistic,
tasteless parties that have come to define the terms bar mitzvah and bat
mitzvah all too often.

Wexler's article should be required reading for every Jewish
parent of children 10 and older. It should be sent by synagogues and rabbis to
parents and children. It should be given to every parent when the bar mitzvah
date is given. I hate to use the term "silent majority," but I hope there is
one, and that more parents develop the character to do the right thing and not
succumb to peer pressure, social pressure or their children's whiney demands.

Howard M. Fields, Hidden Hills

Shalom Center

My response to the Shalom Center ad (Jan. 17) and to Rob Eshman's
recent plea to be allowed to present all points of view is this: Auschwitz is
the lesson to Jewry from those who refused to stand up and fight Hitler. The
destruction of Israel by nuclear-tipped scuds will result from Shalom Center
"peaceniks" sitting comfortably in the Diaspora while urging other Jews to do
likewise rather than confront the Iraqi enemy.

Peaceniks, among other appeasers, pushed Israel down the
primrose path to Oslo and toward today's Palestinian suicide bombing turkey
shoot. The Shalom Center purposefully ignores the lesson of WWII and the graves
of 6 million Jews. We who fought Nazism in the military vow "never again." Jews
must ignore the peacenik guilt trip and rise to the needs of Israel's survival
should the hostile Arab world get nuclear weapons.

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